Infinite Stratos: Reversal
by vendetta543
Summary: After his little sister gets kidnapped, Ichika Orimura takes drastic measures to ensure her safety. He enrolls her in IS academy, the one place he knows where nothing bad ever happens and where she'll always be safe. ...Yeah, that will go over real well.
1. First Day in a New School

**New story in the works. Won't really be updating this much till I finish "This means war!", so think of this as more of a teaser than anything. For anybody who doesn't know, I posted an earlier version of it in Synchronicity.**

**Also, the title page is the closest I could find of Chifuyu as a student. Just darken her hair and make her eyes brown and it fits. I might change it to something else later on, so I hope nobody takes it too seriously.  
**

* * *

Here she was sitting at the middle of the class, trying to ignore the stares the other student's were giving her. What's the big deal, she thought. She was a girl just like the rest of them. Nothing special about her. Her looks were average: Long black hair tied into a ponytail, dark brown eyes that looked red at certain lighting, and pretty good body proportions. She could pilot the IS, but so could any other double X chromosome human being. She was completely average in every sense of the word.

Really, she was.

Her older brother was being paranoid. Sure, she got kidnapped and he had to rescue her, but so what? It wasn't like she would get kidnapped or anything the next time she walked the street. Enrolling her into the Academy was pointless and she could've done without it. She might have been interested in the IS, but it wasn't anywhere near to the point that she wanted to study it for the next three years. A job making IS for the rest of her life didn't really appeal to her.

A few seats to her left, she caught the gaze of her childhood friend, Shinonono Houki. They'd been friends for as long as she remembered, and their interest in kendo allowed them to bond easily. When she had to move away due to witness protection, she had managed to keep in contact with her through a personal cellphone line. Despite many years of not seeing each other beyond a voice in the phone, their friendship remained strong.

Houki caught her gaze and gave her a re-assuring smile, one that she really didn't need. Why should she feel awkward? It wasn't like she was a female in an all-male class or something (now THAT would've been awkward), and she even had a friend in the same class with her. At least things weren't going to be completely annoying.

Right now it was self introductions. The busty green haired teacher at front was instructing (more like begging, she thought to herself) the students to introduce themselves to the entire class. Though she said teacher, the person at front looked anything but. The yellow dress she wore certainly didn't look like any certified teacher wear she'd ever seen before. The way her chest bounced around with every slight movement she made also made her angry for some reason.

It didn't take long till it was her turn to introduce herself. Sighing, she stood up and introduced herself quickly, "My name is Chifuyu Orimura. I'm just your average girl with nothing special about me, so...yeah. I hope we get along in the coming years." She did a short bow and sat back into her seat.

Silence.

Total fucking silence was the classes response to her short introduction. Chifuyu smiled inwardly. Normally people would be surprised or embarrassed when they received that sort of reaction, but she was happy. Now no one was going to go up to her and start asking her stupid questions about her brother again. At the very least, she saw Houki shaking her head in amusement at the corner of her eye. Some things just never changed.

"Is that all you have to say Chifu-chan?" Her smile quickly disappeared and it's place were rapidly reddening cheeks as she recognized the familiar voice, "I thought you'd be more friendly on your first day of school, but I guess I was wrong." There was only one person. One person who had the gall to call her that nickname and make her cheeks redden from anger (Not embarrassment!).

There, leaning on the doorway, was a young man of 24. His black hair was short and ended in spiky waves and his brown eyes showed a hint of mirth. In contrast to the other adult (She still had her doubts on that), he wore a black business suit with a white long sleeved dress shirt underneath it. She couldn't help but twitch when she saw that the black suit was unbuttoned and his dress shirt wasn't tucked in. Leave it to him to come in looking like an idiot who just woke.

Actually, judging by the small yawn he gave, it wouldn't have surprised her if that was the case.

"O-Onii-chan!" She tried to say, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of the other girls in the classes wild yells. She'd heard it all before so she chose to block out all their noise. It was probably something about how hot he was or something...not that she thought he was hot or anything. She was his sister and that would've been weird.

Ichika ignored the screaming of the students and went over to her seat. She looked up at him suspiciously before he gave her a smile and started ruffling her hair, much to everyone's jealousy. She could've told him to stop, but the feeling of it sent her nerves spiraling down too much for her too care.

"Chifu-chan, you need to be more friendly to your classmates," He sighed, "How do you expect to make friends when you're being so friendly. You don't have to be so shy, you know? None of them know that you-"

"Ahfbeihf!" She smashed both hands on her desk and stood up, glaring at him. The blush on her face pretty much destroyed any fear he might have gotten, though, "That's not related to this class at all! You told me you were a teacher, so start acting like it," She sat back down and crossed her arms, though Ichika didn't miss the small pout she had on her face, "And stop calling me Chifu-chan! We're not at home anymore so you have to act like a teacher while we're here and call me Orimura-san or something. It's embarrassing when it's not just the two of us." She didn't say the last sentence, but Ichika could tell that's what she wanted to say.

The other students (and the lone teacher) looked at the two siblings with a mix of confusion and, in some cases, jealousy. This was the only male IS pilot? The champion of the First Mondo Grosso and would be champion of the second one? The pilot who was known all over the world as a genius when it came to the IS? And, most infamously, Shinonono Tabane's rumored lover? He seemed like such a...goofball.

"Right, we'll talk later, Chifu-chan," He ignored Chifuyu's angry stare and went to the front of the class, a large grin on his face. Chifuyu felt her blood boil when she saw Maya not so discreetly move next to him. She knew her type; always acting sweet and innocent, and then pouncing when the opponent was most weak. She saw it first hand during the entrance exams.

"My name's Ichika Orimura, though some of you seem to know that already. I'll be teaching you for the next year and I just want everyone to know that we're all friends here. You guys can call me Orimura-sensei if you want, but I'm fine with being called by first name's and no honorifics if that's how you guys want it. Over the past year we'll be seeing a lot of each other, so I want everyone to be friends with one another, me and Maya-sensei included."

He was an idiot. This was the thought that pushed through Chifuyu's mind as she once again blocked out the screams of her classmates at his introduction. Still, a part of her felt relieved at seeing her brother act so natural. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"That said, I hope you all become friends with Chifu-chan there at the center. She might seem a bit cold, but that's only because she's shy. Do your best, Chifu-chan!"

...Scratch that, she was going to kill him once class was over.

* * *

**If anybody's wondering: Yes, the canon relationships between the characters will change both due to Chifuyu's gender and personality. Houki's relationship with Chifuyu is one of the first signs of this. This mostly follows the canon storyline, but the actions and results will differ due to the difference in the character's. You'll see the most if it by how the haremettes are introduced.  
**

**Thank you for reading.**


	2. Old Friends Reunite

**Busy replaying all my games again ever since my old PS3 broke:/ Anyway, I figured I might as well put this out here while I'm still coherent enough to remember it. Playing multiple games back to back puts a wrench into regular thought processes and makes me forget story ideas. Far Cry 3 has me in its insanity filled jaws at the moment, and it might affect my writing. Then there's the whole end of the world nonesense, which in the case that it might be true then I hope everyone survives. Can't have all my readers gone, now can I?**

**Now before anybody asks; yes, there's a reason Chifuyu calls Ichika "Onii-chan" and not something more formal. The way they were raised was different: While the canon shows that Ichika and Chifuyu did love each other, their relationship wasn't shown to be typically affectionate or close (or at least Chifuyu wasn't). By contrast, Older!Ichika is shown here to be very affectionate and close with Younger!Chifuyu, which explains the honorifics or lack thereof.**

**And again before anybody asks; NO, this is not going to be a shoujo-ai/yuri story. While I will put moments here and there that call that into question, there won't be legitimate romance here between girl and girl. If you people want that then I might be tempted to put it in, but not for any of the true main characters. It's a big school, and not all of them can be straight as a limp noodle.**

**Firstly, I'd like to give a shout out to "ColdGoldLazarus" who reviewed every chapter of just about every IS fic I made. Must've been a hassle, but I appreciate the comments. Then there's those 7 brothers who found the time and effort to review my preview chapter, which I also appreciate. Thanks a lot. Also, I really don't know how to answer that question "Charlotte Eraviel". I'm kinda writing as I go here. And lastly, Shiranui Amaterasu, I found that pic in an archive dump. Pain in the a**, but totally worth it.**

**Second, that this chapter won't be too long. I'm going to be busy writing my Familiar of Zero x Dark Souls crossover fic "Dark of Zero" *insert shameless advertising here*. To compensate, I'll be placing an omake at the end that I wrote one sleepy day ago. Whether it will be used or not I really don't know, but I figured some of you will want to read it, if only for some s*** and giggles. Again I'd like to remind everyone that there will be NO serious yuri here.**

**Lastly, I'll be asking a very important question at the end of the story. Check the authors notes at the end since it'll influence how the story goes.**

**BTW, as is usual for me, I'll be placing some references to other anime's/game's/forms of media, and the first person who can catch them all will be given a virtual cookie! Oh, and the less important prize of deciding which fic (aside from Daydreams and maybe Future Imperfect) gets updated next. But really, who cares about that? **

**Anyway, enough rambling. On with the story!**

* * *

"Maaaa~, stupid Onii-chan..."

Chifuyu slammed her head into the desk and sighed. It was lunchtime already, which meant no more classes for a few precious minutes. Now, this would've been the perfect time do things like trying to make friends with her fellow classmates, read up on lessons so she wouldn't have to waste time studying, or to try (in vain) to regain her sanity while slowly destroying proof from her mind that she might just be a little on the bro-con side of things.

The reason she didn't do the first option was the fact that most of her classmates had disappeared, most likely in order to follow her older brother around and take stalker-y photos of him or something. Knowing him he probably didn't realize what exactly those pictures were being used for and would even pose if any of them asked for it. Her brother was an idiot.

The second option was also a negative since she'd already read the entire phonebook/manual and they still weren't given the new topics that they had to study or the textbooks required to do so. They were the only class that had this problem since the reason they didn't have the textbook was due to her brother forgetting to place the order for them when she specifically reminded him to do so a week ago. Her brother was an idiot.

The third option was impossible because...wait a minute, she wasn't a bro-con! Sure she might have thoughts from time to time, and maybe her preferred type of guy was "Older, with dark hair, and a laid back personality", but that didn't mean she held incestuous feelings for her older brother! It was just...imprinting. Like how some males supposedly preferred women who resembled their mother or older sister figure, she ended up getting her likes and dislikes since she spent a lot of time with her older brother.

...

Her brother was an idiot.

Right, it was perfectly normal.

...Back at reality, Chifuyu was currently sitting on her desk with nothing to do. Half of her felt like going to the Cafeteria to get something to eat, but the other half was currently urging her to try and get some sleep with whatever little time the sadist that designed the school schedule had given her. She'd been up all night studying since she heard that the curriculum was brutal and that everyone was put to the limit even from the first day on. Kind of like going to war, only much worse since the horrors didn't stop when you failed the final exam. If Chifuyu thought getting into IS academy was tough, then she should count herself lucky she didn't know what failing was like.

And it was...it just wasn't for her class.

Chifuyu resisted the urge to sigh once again as she remembered her older brother's teaching methods, "Stupid Onii-chan...what was the point of reading?" She muttered into the desk. Her angry demeanor was understandable considering the circumstances: Her older brother had outright told the class that the book WOULDN'T be used and they would take a more 'hands on' approach to teaching. Now, after about 15 minutes of trying to get some of her rowdier classmates minds out of the gutter - which included a few things she'd rather not remember - her brother managed to clarify it meant less lectures and more practical teachings such as training and watching research vids.

Basically, it felt like a giant slap in the face for the studious teenager.

To make it even worse, he even gave everyone both his and that assistant teacher's (Maya Yamada, supposedly) cell number in case they had any questions or they needed tutoring. Now ignoring the fact that giving out your contact details to a bunch of people with dubious intentions wasn't the best idea, the unsettling grins and smiles some of her classmates gave when they received said numbers made her worry. She should take care to remind her Onii-chan to put up some anti-virus and hacking protection, along with being more careful on who he gave his number to.

_'Right, I need to get up before my legs fall asleep,'_ She stretched her arms and grabbed her desk, using the opposing force to push herself up. Just as she was about to fully leave the classroom, however, she was stopped by a familiar figure with even more familiar dark brown hair.

"Chifuyu-san, can I talk to you?" Houki's familiar tone caused a smile to appear in Chifuyu's face. Even if the two of them were friends, the kendo fanatic insisted that they keep on formal terms as to not start any problems or rumors. Being the sister of the world famous Tabane Shinonono meant being too friendly and happy go lucky with anyone might lead to problems. It was one of the reasons why they made sure to stay in contact using encrypted phones and without using the same phone twice in a row. Witness protection just made things even more complicated.

"Sure," Though the answer was concise, there was a hint of unmistakable relief in Chifuyu's tone. Already she could feel the stares of her classmates, all of them eager to pounce on her (mind out of gutter, please) in order to ask her questions about her older brother. How did she know this? Other than the fact that none of her classmates could keep a secret to save a dying bunny's life, there was also the fact that it happened just about every year. Her first memory in middle school was getting dogpiled by a bunch students asking her personal questions about her older sibling and calling her 'Onee-sama'. She suddenly understood how her pen-pal Misaka Mikoto felt.

Houki nodded and smiled softly before quickly going back to her neutral expression. The two of them made their way quietly to the rooftop, neither daring to speak a word with the other till they were sure no one was watching them. Neither of them liked it, but it was better than getting trouble because neither could keep their mouth shut. Besides, it wasn't as if they weren't used to it. They had over 6 years and counting of doing this. They could afford to wait a few minutes.

* * *

The door to the rooftop gave an audible creak as they opened it. Unlike the rest of the academy with its automatic doors and electronic ID scanners, the rooftop door was pretty old and actually need a knob to turn it. Chifuyu decided not to question the odd design choice; maybe the school ran out of budget at one point (unlikely), or maybe they just thought having the cliché 'roof where the students hang out in every lunch time' location wouldn't be complete without the door that sounded like it was going to fall off with every sound it made.

Houki looked around cautiously, making sure the entire rooftop was empty, before closing the door behind her with a soft, relieved breath. Chifuyu did the same, though she looked around for security cameras or other recording devices rather than people. Personally she found this practice kind of silly; Houki was already under witness protection and even more now she was under the protection of IS academy and its monstrous security system. She shouldn't have any more need to look behind her shoulder every 2 minutes because someone wanted to ransom her to Tabane for parts or data. Still, Chifuyu agreed that it was better to be safe than sorry.

It was only after 3 straight minutes of silence that Houki finally decided to talk, "So...how are you?" She started awkwardly, leaning on the roofs railing so far that Chifuyu wondered if she was contemplating jumping, "I mean...I know we talked on the phone a few days ago, but I never really thought that-"

"It's good to see you too," Chifuyu interrupted, laughing slightly at the surprised expression on Houki's face, "I knew you were attending the academy too, but I didn't expect to get into the same class as you. Guess I should count myself lucky that I managed to get into a class with at least one friend, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Houki nodded slightly and gave a relieved sigh. Chifuyu could understand her nervousness; despite the two of them remaining in contact all throughout those 6 years they were apart, neither of them had actually managed to physically interact with one another the entire time. The closest they got was managing to make a video chat, but even then Houki had no choice but to black out the screen to ensure that neither her face or her location could be traced in case anyone was spying.

Despite all the years they were apart, Houki hadn't changed a bit: The same ponytail, the same stiff demeanor and posture, the same overtly formal way of speaking even to her close friends, and, of course, the same scowl on her face that she insisted she was born with. Okay, that wasn't exactly true; her body had definitely matured. This wasn't much of a surprise to Chifuyu, but it did make it slightly harder to recognize her just from her appearance alone. Good thing she wasn't male or it might have made things awkward.

"By the way, congratulations on winning that kendo tournament. I knew you could do it."

Once again, a surprised look filtered its way into Houki's face, though this time it was accompanied by a slight blush covering her slightly pale cheeks, "H-How...how did you know that?" She managed to stammer out.

"I read it on the newspaper," Chifuyu smirked and tapped Houki on the shoulder lightly, "I heard that the last round was practically one-sided; the opponent couldn't even hit you, right? I'm guessing you've been practicing your kendo even when you move around so much."

"I expect the same from you," Houki smiled back, "I'll be very disappointed if my sparring partner hasn't kept up in her training while I was gone. Not that it will stop me from beating you even if you did keep up with your training," Oh, was that a challenge coming from the stoic samurai? "After all, I've been putting all my effort to improving."

"You want to make a bet on that? I'm pretty sure I can still beat you like I did when we were kids," Chifuyu shot back with a large (for her) grin on her face, "Same bet as when we were kids?"

"Of course," Houki nodded back fiercely, "But you might be remembering it differently. I seem to recall beating you 2/3 times and you crying about it afterwards," She laughed at the supposed memory, "Should we also have the same prize from back then too?"

"Loser treats the winner to ramen!" The two of them yelled loudly at the same time. Both kendo fanatics gave each other an unflinching stare before quickly breaking into a fit of laughter. It wasn't something that came from hearing a good joke or being tickled, but rather just out of relief. Relief that, despite all the years that they'd been apart, nothing had truly changed between the two close friends. That they could still joke around and be honest with one another despite everything that's happened.

"Come on, we should go back before we're late for class...though I doubt Onii-chan will care one way or another." Seriously, would it kill her brother to at least issue a punishment for being late? An attendance book atop the head would've been enough. But what did she know? She wasn't a teacher. Houki just giggled and followed the dark haired girl through the still creaky door. Things were at least looking up for her, that's for sure. She already had a friend in her own class and she could see her older brother if need be.

Maybe things were finally starting to look up.

* * *

She really should've kept her big fat mouth shut.

You know when people say things are a-okay now only for things to turn to shite right afterwards? That's what she was feeling like at this point. She knew things were going way too well; her brother actually implemented rules, he clarified that anyone who tried to hack into either his or Maya's cell would get suspended, and she found that some of her classmates weren't completely unbearable (she she could probably even make friends with a few of them). Things definitely were looking up.

"Are you even listening to me!?"

And then she came along. What words could she use to describe Cecilia Alcott? Many would call her an epitome of foreign beauty, or maybe even a fine example of nobility. She would describe herself as one of the best - if not THE best - representative candidate of England, if not the entire world. With her powerful IS and her superb accuracy, anybody with the least bit of survival instinct wouldn't even so much as try and look at her funny.

Personally, Chifuyu would've used the term "Spoiled brat with a head so big I'm surprised she can even fit into her own IS."

"What did you call me!?"

Whoops, did she say that out loud?

"I said could you run that by me again," Chifuyu repeated quickly, "I'm afraid I was too busy being thankful you were even talking to me to properly register what you said," Bullshit. That's what it was, complete and utter bullshit. Anybody with even a tiny sense of irony or even humility would've realized that Chifuyu was lying through her teeth, and not even particularly hard considering the flat tone she was using and the completely bored expression on her face.

"Well, if you insist," Thankfully(?), both of these qualities were lost on Cecilia Alcott, "I was simply saying that since I was the only one who managed to beat an instructor during the entrance exams, you can ask me anything if you get confused. After all, I'm a representative candidate," She gave a self satisfied smile and thrust her chest out in a show of pride.

God, why did she have to deal with this? Oh right, it was because of her relation to her brother. Being the younger sister of the first, and so far only, male pilot in the entire earth had its share of disadvantages. Other than the mandatory dogpiles she experienced starting middle school, people expected a lot of things from her. Unlike her alternate universe counterpart (where did that come from?), however, she never actually let it bother her. Everybody else could assume or expect all they want; she wasn't going to change herself to meet their expectations of her.

Still, a Representative Cadet offering her help was very rare. For the unaware, Representative Candidate's/Cadet's were the chosen pilot's of every country hand-picked from hundreds to thousands of applicants. This meant that not only was the position extremely prestigious, it gave said individuals major bragging rights towards anyone who didn't have the position. Japan had their own candidate as well, though Chifuyu really wasn't aware or particularly cared who it was. Most likely it was a girl who came from a rich and/or well-connected family.

What was even rarer was teasing a Representative Cadet and living to tell about, "I see, you beat an instructor," which was exactly what Chifuyu was going to do, "I guess no one told you that you're not the only one," She bent down and grabbed her book-bag so Cecilia wouldn't see her barely restrained smile, "I did it as well, and I didn't even have to lift a finger or need a superior IS to do it."

Actually, the reason she won wasn't because of natural skill, or even hard training, but because of her brother. He thought that coming to cheer her on would be a good idea, and he did do that. Problem was that the female instructor she was fighting against got distracted upon seeing the only male pilot and activated her ignition boost without looking where she was going. This led to said instructor getting very well acquainted with the arena wall and a very irate Chifuyu demanding a do-over, which wasn't granted to her since 'Instructor too distracted by applicants older brother' looked really bad on paper.

Cecilia didn't take the news well," W-What!? Why didn't anyone tell me!?"

"Don't know, don't care," Chifuyu shrugged lightly and gave a small yawn before grabbing her book-bag and running as fast as she could out of the classroom. She didn't want to push her luck.

* * *

"Onii-chan, are you there?" Chifuyu knocked on the electronic door lightly, "I need to know my assigned room and you haven't given me the paper yet." Why didn't her older brother just message her the details? She just wanted to go to her room and curl up in the bed. Not to say that she was lazy or anything, but anybody would be winded if they had to deal with all this nonsense on the first day of school.

She waited a few more seconds before knocking on the door again. Or she would've, if not for the fact that a loud scream interrupted her mid-knock, "Gyaaaaah! H-Hey, we shouldn't be doing this here!" The sounds of smashing plates and upturned furniture reverberated loudly from behind the door, followed closely by the sounds of even more frantic screams.

"Not here? Does that mean we can do somewhere more _private, _Ik-kun?" Chifuyu involuntarily cringed at the voice, the **familiar** voice. She'd recognize that overtly high voice from anywhere. And if the sounds of more screaming come from the room were true, then she was right.

"Onii-chan!" Chifuyu braced herself tightened her shoulders. With a deep breath, she rammed into the door as hard as she could, which resulted in her being smacked back with the door barely budging an inch, "Right, forgot this door is automated..." She grimaced and shook her shoulder slowly. Thankfully nothing was broken. Her brain was continuously chiding her for being rash, but that wasn't anything she couldn't block out.

Unlike the sounds coming from that room right now.

"Chifu-chan, is that you!?" Chifuyu nodded to the question before remembering she was behind a closed door. She made do with shouting "yes" and tapping at the door rapidly, "R-Right, open the door will you? The password is - Ah, don't touch me there!" More sounds of struggle and some giggles reached Chifuyu's ears before he managed to continue, "Ah, j-just put the numbers 4327 on the keypad. Th-That should let you in!"

Without another word, Chifuyu typed the 4 numbers into the key-card as fast as she could and barreled through the door ever so gracefully. What greeted her on the other side wasn't pretty: Overturned tables and chairs, plates smashed into a dozens of little pieces, and her older brother being pinned to the ground by a madwoman wearing a dress and mechanical bunny ears with a giant smile on her face.

Now, a little sister seeing their older brother with a woman usually lead to many different things: The first was stuttering madly and making excuses to leave the room. The second would be to not make excuses, but to still leave the room regardless. And then there was the overprotective reaction of telling the said girl to back off while loudly frothing like a rabid dog on steroids.

Chifuyu chose none of these. Instead, she made do with giving a weary sigh and forcefully pulling the older woman not so gently off her older brother, much to his audible relief, "Tabane-san, please get off Onii-chan before I have you arrested," She warned as neutrally as possible. To the untrained eye, it would appear that Chifuyu wasn't bothered in the least and that she wouldn't have minded if Tabane continued at all.

This couldn't be further from the truth.

"Eh, why~?" She hugged the struggling male's entire body tighter, causing a sound that sounded oddly reminiscent of a choke victims cries to emit, "I'm just showing Ik-kun how much I love him~!" She turned and gave Houki a mischievous smile, "And call me Tabane-nee! We're practically family now~"

"No we're not!" Chifuyu tightened her grip on the older woman's dress and pulled back harder, doing her best to make sure her temper didn't flare, "Onii-chan's made it very clear that the two of you are friends and nothing more!" She gripped harder with her other hand and pulled again, to no avail, "And you promised not to bother him while he's at work! Didn't you say that?"

"But he's not at work~ He's here in his room!" She countered back.

This argument continued back and forth for a few minutes - with some variation such as Chifuyu using a discarded IS sword as a sort of crowbar at one point - before the flustered teen finally managed to pull off the amorous woman from her older brother. Now her older brother was pacing around the room trying to pick up all the messed up items while the two of them sat at the floor; Chifuyu from exhaustion, and Tabane from having nothing better to do.

"Tabane, what did you come here for?" Ichika asked after finally placing the last chair back into its proper place, "And don't say it was just to see me," He held up his hand and gave a somewhat stern glare, "I'm really busy right now and I don't have time for interruptions."

"Why can't I just go here to see you? I miss you, Ik-kun!" She gave a pout that, had Ichika not just been practically assaulted earlier, he might have actually found cute, "Hmph, and here I thought you'd be happy to see me~" She whined 'cutely' at the male.

"Tabane..."

"Fine, fine~" She sighed and ruffled her long purple hair and sighed, "I was hoping to see if I could inspect Ik-kun's IS for data on something I'm working on. I'll leave after that, I swear." She held up her right hand like a scout making an oath. Of course, Chifuyu didn't miss the fact that she hid her left hand behind her back like a murderer hiding a gun. She should probably warn Houki later about her older sister possibly going to see her later today.

"Alright, but can we talk about it later? I need to get some things ready and I'm expecting a phone call soon from a friend I met back when I went to the US."

"Okay, Ik-kun! I'll meet you back here later so we can be alone~" Was Chifuyu's eye twitching? No, that was just a trick of the eye. She also certainly was not gripping her skirt like she wanted to strangle it. That was also just overactive imagination.

Regardless, the purple haired Alice nodded rapidly before disappearing in a haze of smoke, leaving the two siblings to sigh at the mess she left behind, " I hate it when she does that," Chifuyu commented flatly as she stood up, "Onii-chan, can you give me the room assignment please? I really need to get some sleep. It's been a really long day and school starts extra early tomorrow." Why did the student council president have to make a speech on the second day? Usually a week passed by before stuff like that happened.

"Uh, sure..." He smiled and rummaged through the bag and pulled out a small slip of paper, "It says here that you're in room 1025. You're going to have a roommate, so I hope that you're okay with that."

"Fine with me."

Ichika nodded and handed Chifuyu the small slip of paper before he felt his phone vibrating wildly in his pocket. With a last glance at the retreating form of his younger sister, he placed the phone against his ear, "Hello, Jason?" The accented English came as a slight surprise to Chifuyu. Her brother could speak English? "You're in Bangkok now? Yeah, I heard about that. So you're going home now- What do you mean no? Skydiving? In an abandoned island? Are you sure that's a good idea? Well...alright, just be careful alright?"

"Who was that, Onii-chan?"

"Oh, just a friend I met when I visited California," He sighed and placed the phone back into his pocket, "He invited me to go skydiving with him to some place called Rook islands, but I said no. Hope he ends up alright."

"Hmm."

* * *

"Room 1025" Chifuyu looked down at the paper one last time before looking back at the doorplate, "Alright this looks to be the place," With some slight hesitation, Chifuyu entered the electronic door and came face to face with a room that looked like something out of a 4 star hotel. Two beds, a study desk, a miniature kitchen and fridge, the latest computer, and a decent sized T.V that was already on. Chifuyu had to admit that the room certainly added incentive for the students to not fail.

"Why's the TV on? Is my roommate already here?" Well, it would provide some entertainment while she took out her luggage. Based on the fact that the left bed was already slightly messy, there was a good chance that bed was already taken. She grabbed the remote from the small table and started removing all her spare clothing from the bags.

"In other news, Academy City has opened its doors to all aspiring students. The headmaster Aleister Crowley would like to-"

Okay, that wasn't anything interesting. A change of channel might be good.

"News reports state that some islands were found to contain bases for Human Traffickers and Private Military contractors. Be advised that seemingly abandoned islands may in fact be dangerous to your health and freedom. Please make sure to engage in proper safety and-"

Was there nothing good on?

"In foreign news, a company by the name of Abstergo was attacked a few days ago by an unknown assailant. Descriptions of the individual are scarce, but the body count left by his rampage lists in at least over two dozen security guards and one scientist. Witness reports state that the only weapon used during the massacre was a combat knife and a wrist blade that extended from right hand. More news will be-"

Chifuyu turned the T.V off with a sigh, "Nothing good on, so i guess I'll check on my roommate for now."

"Hello, is someone there?" A voice shouted from the locked bathroom door, "I'm in the shower right now and I'm about to go out."

"Yeah, I'm your roommate," Chifuyu crinkled her brows. That voice sounded familiar, "I already unpacked and took the right bed. I hope that's alright with you."

The bathroom door opened with a slight creak and warm steam wafted slowly into the air-conditioned room as the toweled figure stepped out, "Yes, it's alright with me. I'd like to introduce myself: My name is Shinonono- Ch-Chifuyu-san?"

Despite herself, Chifuyu couldn't keep the smile that escaped her lips, "Houki, you're my roommate?" Her tone exhibit slight surprise but even more relief. She was afraid that she'd get an unfamiliar roommate or someone who would ask her questions about her older brother constantly. Seeing the black haired girl was a relief.

"Y-Yeah, I guess so."

Maybe things really were looking up for her.

* * *

**Omake:**

"Stay away from my Onii-chan."

These 6 words were all that echoed in the small room. Chifuyu stared, nonplussed, as the red eyed bluenette simply gave a raised eyebrow and a small smirk at the younger girl's warning. The reason she was surprised being that the student council president never showed a hint of surprise and hesitation when she heard her words. Even the raised eyebrow was due to curiosity and nothing else, as if challenging her to do something other than give not-at-all veiled threats.

"I refuse," Tatenashi leaned back in her seat, "It's my job to report and help all of the school staff, and this applies especially to teachers. Besides," She smirked again, "I'm not sure it's really the little sister's place to decide who big brother should or shouldn't spend time with~" Her voice had taken on her normal cheerful tone again.

The room they were in was small, at least for the standards of the Academy. Despite all the trials and tribulations one had to endure in order to become the student council president, it seemed completely disproportionate when the office looked so narrow and cramp. Even if she wanted to get up, summon her IS katana, and smack the irritating bluenette in the face, it just wasn't possible. No matter how much she wanted to.

And she really, really wanted to.

"What you're doing isn't helping! It's, it's..." Chifuyu's face suddenly reddened, "It's harassment, plain and simple! I-I don't want Onii-chan to get fired because of something his student did!" She fired back angrily, glaring at the student council president so fiercely that she could swear she saw fire in the younger girls brown orbs.

Tatenashi still looked unimpressed, "And what kind of harassment would that be, hm? I assure you that everything is completely wholesome and I'm not doing anything that will get him in trouble."

Chifuyu gripped the small table between them tightly. She was really tempted to just throw the damn thing at her smirking face, consequences be damned. She had the gall to lie to her face? Even after what she saw her do to her Onii-chan? Did she have no shame? _'Oh that's right, you get to be the president based on how strong you are, not on how suited you actually are to the job,'_Chifuyu never understood the concept of 'you beat the old president, you become the new president'. It was pretty much encouraging assault.

"How is leaning across his back in nothing but a bath towel count as wholesome!?" Chifuyu smashed her hands on the wooden table so hard that cracks began to form. Amazingly enough, Tatenashi didn't look so much as surprised at her actions or its effects. Though she did make a mental note to add 'new table' in the list of things she'd need to add to the schools item list.

"Hm, I really don't know what you're talking about, Chifu-chan~" It was a name the student council president often heard the girl get called by her older sibling. She gave an open toothed smile as Chifuyu's face flashed a dark red crimson, "Maybe you're confusing something you read for reality? I heard it happens a lot~"

"Don't screw with me!" Chifuyu rarely cursed, but this was special, "I saw you do it! I heard you whispering _things_to him when you thought no one was there! Don't try to pretend to be innocent!" Many who knew Chifuyu often remarked that she was unflappable. Someone who would greet a former enemy with nothing but a nonchalant gaze and a raised eyebrow. She could be three feet from an explosion and she'd still stare at it head on with nothing but slight disdain. The times when she showed anger were rare indeed.

Sp why was it exactly that Tatenashi looked more amused than anything else? Even her brother hesitated when she got like this. And when the only male pilot hesitated, things were serious.

"And how exactly would you know that" She asked curiously, "The last I checked, me and Ichika-kun," Chifuyu seethed at the informal way her brother was referred to, "Were the only ones in the room. That must've meant you were..." She let that sentence hang. The implications of what she was suggesting were enough to send Chifuyu into another fit, however.

"Th-Th-That's...!" Chifuyu racked her mind quickly for an excuse, "I-It's because Onii-chan told me, that's why!" She nodded rapidly, "Th-That's exactly it! Onii-chan told me that a temptress was trying to seduce him and make him lose his job!" She spoke so fast that she could barely register the words before they already left her mouth. Many who knew Chifuyu would also say she was an honest person. A lie rarely passed from her lips, and if it did it was only to benefit others and never herself. Of course, those same people never knew her when she was talking about her beloved Onii-chan.

The truth was that she had seen them by accident. She was looking through her brothers closet for his lesson plan (Not his underwear!) so she could review the discussed topics. When she heard Tatenashi and Ichika walking down the hallway, she panicked and hid. And that was when she saw _**her **_doing things that would have gotten her brother fired if they were found out.

"Hmmm, Really~?" Tatenashi gave her an 'I really doubt you're telling the truth' face, "Well then, I must admit I'm sort of flattered that Ichika-**kun**," She emphasized the honorific, "Would think of me that way. If he says I'm a temptress, then that must mean I have some effect on him."

Chifuyu cursed her sense of wording.

"There's one thing I'm curious about, though..."

Chifuyu watched in confusion as Tatenashi tood up from her seat and made her way towards her. She was half-expecting the older girl to start a fight right then and there and made to summon her IS. If she was going down, she was going down fighting. Unfortunately, the truth was much, much worse.

Tatenashi leaned across the small chair that Chifuyu was sitting in, making sure her face was level with the younger girls. Chifuyu backed up instinctively and cursed when the unyielding wall that was the back of the chair refused to move. She was trapped. And she hated being trapped.

"I wonder, what exactly did you hear me say?" She was so close that every word she spoke seemed to magnify, "Can you tell me? I'm really curious now."

Chifuyu was sure her face was completely red at this point, "T-That's...Y-You said something about how..." She paused and swallowed. Despite rumors at her old school, no doubt spread by Dan as a joke, Chifuyu was very much a pure hearted girl. Something like this was an absolute nightmare for her, especially when it came to someone she couldn't intimidate or deal with, "O-Onii-chan was...you were...!"

Tatenashi giggled internally as the younger girl stammered out more and more fragmented sentences. Teasing people was an old hobby of hers and the best targets were often those who were easily flustered.

"Maybe it was an offer? You know, kind of like this?" Chifuyu's eyes widened in horror when Tatenashi leaned cupped her cheeks in one hand and leaned closer, "Ichika-kun was really nervous as well. You two are extremely alike." Tatenashi was only teasing, of course. She was as straight as a sword. Chifuyu was as well, or at least that's what she heard, "You're really cute, you that~"

Chifuyu didn't hear her. In fact, she didn't hear much of anything. Her mind was a scrambling mess, not helped by the close proximity of the infuriating bluenette. It really didn't help that their lips were only a couple of inches apart and her every breath smelled strongly of peppermint. Just one push and they would make contact.

There was only one thing to do.

"Oniii-chaaaaaan!" Whatever Tatenashi expected her to do, it certainly didn't include pushing her off and running for the door like her life depended on it. Tatenashi watched in astonishment as the black haired blur opened the door and shut it behind her with a loud thud, all while her face erupted like a volcano about to explode hot magma.

"...Well, I guess they're different in a lot of things after all~"

* * *

**Truth time: I was REALLY tempted to place Cecilia as the roommate instead of Houki, but I chickened out at the last minute. Maybe I can do it in a later arc? Who knows. Depends if the readers want it.**

**Anyway, the important thing I'd like to talk about is Chifuyu's fighting style, IS, and weaponry. Now since I don't want to spoil anyone, I'll just place two choices here.**

**- Guns**

**- Swords**

**Just place this alongside your review and I'll modify both her IS and her fighting style based on your choices. When you review, please do not forget to place either of these two. Note that for those tempted to pick swords, I will NOT give her a Byaku-shiki copy if you pick it. Chifuyu will have her own fighting style and unique IS which is different from Canon. I want my readers to decide how parts of the story go for maximum enjoyment.**

**Lastly, I'm placing here a list that's basically a rough draft of the cast's relationship with one another. This is subject to change depending on reaction, so please read it.**

**Friend: Houki, Rin, Kanzashi, Ran and Charlotte.**

**Rival: Tatenashi, Laura, and Cecilia.**

**Neutral: Dan, Tabane.**

**That's because they're rivals doesn't mean they're enemies. Rivals still respect one another, they just have opposing viewpoints. Neutral means exactly that.**

**Well that's all for today. Hope you enjoy the update.**


	3. A Brewing Storm

**Well, here's the next chapter for Reversal:) Before the chapter starts I'd like to address a question a lot of people have been asking about: The Romance.**

**Now, I'll be quite honest with you all: I DID NOT think about romance too hard when writing this. Unlike say Future Imperfect or Daydreams, when I made this I thought "Hmm, I wanna focus on humor and friendships rather than who eventually gets to be with who". This is because of the changes I have to make due to Chifuyu's gender and vastly different personality compared to Ichika. Entire arcs may have to be rebuilt from the ground up just to make up for their key differences, the most obvious of which being Tatenashi and Chifuyu's meeting given that someone like Chifuyu is smart and capable enough that she doesn't need a bodyguard, unlike her dunderhead of a brother.  
**

**And really, where did everyone get the idea that this would be a romance story? I didn't place romance in the Genre, something that's different from just about every other IS story I've made. Still, if fan demand asks for romance, I may have to put it.I'm just curious where people got the idea since I never said it would be romance (or maybe I did and I forgot).  
**

**Tatenashi's, Charlotte's, and Kanzashi's introductions will be the hardest to rebuild along with the changes to their relationship with Chifuyu. Hopefully I can figure it out before their arcs come up.  
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**Now I'm not averse to having the occasional ship tease moment here and there, but as of now there isn't any plan to turn this story into a serious romance story. Or at least a story that focuses on romance exclusively. Ichika will have a few moments here and there with Maya, Tabane, Natasha, and even Chifuyu herself, but again there are no plans for it to be too focused on. I just want this to be a funny romp.  
**

**Chifuyu herself has no male love interests apart from possibly her older brother, and she's not a bro-con (I never understood why you guys thought she was. I mean really, you guys are looking into things way too hard :o). So it's mostly just her with her friends, barring the few odd interactions with Dan and any other male. Strictly platonic though.  
**

**Now with that done, let's answer a few questions.  
**

**Shiranui Amaterasu - Yeah I watched it, but I never really considered it as an inspiration given when I made this fic. Chifuyu isn't as blatant as Akiko will be, mostly because she's way more mentally balanced.  
**

**Reader - Don't worry, she'll show up later on:)  
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**Druss the Legend - Houki and Cecilia are Chifuyu's friend and rival respectively. Mostly they're not in the running for Ichika's affection. Also, are you so sure she's still Madoka? If the current theory about Madoka being a clone of Chifuyu is true, then Madoka may end up as radically different based on Ichika and Chifuyu's reversal.  
**

**Hmm...maybe I could put in a romance here...don't mind me!  
**

**Oh, and don't worry about Tatenashi and Chifuyu since their interactions become more balanced the more time goes on. She won't be invulnerable forever.  
**

**PsychoFishHead - I'm toning down the OC's in this fic since my other fics have a metric truckload of them, especially Future Imperfect. It's mostly just the canon cast with one or two exceptions, and even then they're not important. Mostly they're used as filler and expanding on the arcs.  
**

**OcarinaOfRhyme - No plans for that as of yet:p  
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**Oh, and for the people who were confused; no he is not together with Tabane. While she makes it obvious that she likes him in _that _way he currently doesn't reciprocate. This is mostly because the picture I based this story on had Ichika look like he was choking when Tabane hugged him, and partly because I think she's an annoying bitch who nearly killed hundreds of thousands out of spite and I really don't like writing about her. Besides that, she's a pretty prominent character altogether.  
**

**Besides, I just played a game called Irisu Syndrome...and let's just say bunny cosplayers now scare the crap out of me and make me reach for the kitchen knife whenever they appear. Hopefully Tabane isn't that crazy, though I won't get my hopes up.  
**

**Lastly, the references in the previous chapter were: To Aru Majutsu no Index, Assassins Creed, and Far Cry 3. As per agreement, I'll probably be updating either Future Imperfect, Synchronicity, or The Soldier and the Bride depending on the reviewer's choices. Future Imperfect most likely. Oh, and two or three of Cecilia's lines are copied from the light novels. Sorry about that.  
**

**EDIT: The chapter disappearing and reappearing isn't my fault:/ The servers are being asses right now and hopefully it'll fix itself soon or the mods take notice and debug it. The reason you guys keep getting notifications is because I'm forced to remove and then place the chapter back over and over again due to people PMing me about it. Hopefully you guys see this chapter soon.**

* * *

Chifuyu was a smart girl. Many people agreed with her brother when he said that she was wise beyond her years, something the teenage girl took some pride in. While her classmates talked about the latest fashion trends or going to the arcade, she was busy studying her exams and looking for job opportunities. When her class panicked at seeing a shoot-out in that bakery, she just called the police and helped distract the robbers. And every time her female peers talked about boys they liked, the only thing that popped into her mind was her brother.

...

Wait, that last one didn't come out right.

...Anyway, the point of the entire thing was that she had nerves of steel. She was always ready, always expecting whatever situation to crop up and preparing counter plans. Dan, Ran, and Yuuki tended to rely on her when they had problems, the former two more than the latter. Normally the reaction she had when seeing something unexpected was a blank look of neutrality before thinking of way to solve the problem. It was just the way her mind worked.

"Chi-chan~"

But of all the things Chifuyu expected to wake up to in the morning, it certainly wasn't seeing her best friend struggle in her bed while her older sister looked like she was trying to molest her. Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to stop the already incoming headache from spreading too fast. They already needed to wake up extra early for that speech and she certainly wasn't in the mood.

The look on Chifuyu's face wasn't her usual neutrality, but rather a cross between blank wonder and annoyance at the sight of her brother's not-lover straddling her best friend like a manic horse rider. She wanted to do something to help Houki out.

Unfortunately, she was only human. Waking up groggy after barely any sleep led to her being sluggish and unfocused. So the best she could do was halfheartedly throw a couple of pillows at her, which did nothing to impede the older woman from practically molesting her struggling younger sister. Chifuyu might have felt more pity if not for the fact that her brain kept urging her to shut off till 7 a.m; no compromises.

"What time is it?" She groggily reached for her phone and brought it up to her face, "Damn, it's only 5 a.m," She sighed and buried her face into her pillow once again, trying to block the sounds of the two sister's that sounded eerily like a certain act that shouldn't be done by those related by blood. She had at least another two hours of sleep left in her before she needed to go to the auditorium.

"O-Onee-san, let go of me!" Houki grabbed desperately at the side of her bed for her kendo stick. Or really for anything that she could use to pry off her clingy older sister, "Ch-Chifuyu, help me!" She cried out to her friend desperately. Chifuyu had to help her, right? She was her best friend. Barely she could see her practice sword lying at the side of Chifuyu's bed. If she gave her that, then she would be able to help herself.

"Mmmmph," Chifuyu mumbled sleepily into her pillow, making another halfhearted throw with her spare pillow. Again it smacked Tabane right in the face, and again the woman showed no reaction to the projectile. Maybe she should've lined her pillows with concrete just in case of situations like this, though it would have made sleeping on them way harder and less practical.

"Chi-chan, why are you trying to push me away~" Tabane pouted and put Houki through one of her patented choke-hold hugs, "It's been too long since we've seen each other~!"

Houki didn't bother answering, content with making choking sounds as oxygen was once again being deprived from her; something that happened whenever her sister came on one of her surprise visits. It was one of the reasons she didn't like spending a long time in close proximity with her older sister, the other being that

Fortunately for the kendo fanatic, this seemed to finally jog Chifuyu from her drowsiness, "Oh for f-" Chifuyu bit her tongue to keep the curse from flying out of her mouth. Reluctantly she stood up, grabbing Houki's discarded Kendo stick and placing it between the two sisters, "Tabane-san, I'm giving you till the count of three to get off her before I do it by force," Chifuyu stated as neutrally as possible, "If you don't do so, then I will do it by force. Don't push me."

"But-" That was all the scientist managed to say before she found herself flung through the air, Chifuyu using the wooden sword as a lever of sorts to push the woman off. Houki looked down at her sister for a second before throwing a relieved smile at Chifuyu's way. Much as she loved...didn't hate her sister, there was no denying that she could get extremely annoying when around people she cared about. Maybe that was why Ichika-sensei didn't like spending time alone with her in a room, minus the absurd sounds that tended to come out.

"Three," Chifuyu gave a relieved sigh as the woman quite loudly plummeted to the floor, "Houki, be more careful next time," She chastised her friend, "If you're not sure about what's gonna happen, then make sure to keep something like a tazer or your kendo stick on hand. You never know when you're going to get attacked like Onii-chan did yesterday."

"Yes mom," Houki replied back sarcastically, eliciting an annoyed grunt from her friend, "You could've told me about my sister being here. If you visited Ichika-sensei yesterday then you should've seen her or he might have told you about it."

"Yeah, well I forgot," Chifuyu threw the kendo stick back at her friend, "I was going to text you after I met my roommate and seeing you made me forget about it. Guess I was too happy that I had a roommate that wouldn't interrogate me about Onii-chan's choice of underwear and whether he preferred boxer's or briefs. It's boxers by the way, in case you wanted to know," She added blankly at the end.

"Not so much," Houki replied, just as blank as her friend, "I'm more interested in how Onee-san managed to disappear while we were having this conversation."

Chifuyu stared in confusion at the kendo fanatic before understanding what she was referring to: Tabane had once again pulled off her disappearing act and left without a trace. There wasn't even an indentation like the usual cases where she threw her around somewhere. Very suspicious.

"Huh, I wish I knew how she did that," Chifuyu did her best to keep her face from showing her surprise. She never understood how she managed to pull off her stealthy disappearances like a ninja like that, especially given how loud and noticeable the woman usually was.

Not to mention the fact that she couldn't keep a secret to save her life. Was she really supposed to believe that the mad scientist wasn't the one who nearly cratered Japan just a few years ago? Please, how the governments of the world missed that the first IS - who was obviously not her brother - 'just so happened' to be there the same time the missiles were launched was a mystery to the teen girl. Hopefully it didn't mean that they were being run with idiots with more money than sense, but she wouldn't hold her breath.

Then again, these were the same people who scrapped using the IS as a space suit and instead turned it into a sports machine, which was the flimsiest cover she'd seen in her 15 years of life. Seriously, who bought that the IS were sports machines for entertainment when each one carried enough weapons to shame an entire country's army? Maybe it'd been a while since she'd checked, but she was pretty sure you didn't need Gatling guns and Katana's for friendly sports.

"Same here," Agreed Houki, "Maybe onee-san built a teleporter. I remember her telling me about something like it a few years ago, but I didn't listen all too well."

Chifuyu sighed, "That's exactly what I'd expect from someone like her," She suddenly yawned, "Listen, I'm going back to sleep. You're going to start practicing now, right?"

"Well I can't exactly go to sleep now," Houki deadpanned, "I'd rather be awake rather than unguarded the next time Onee-san comes. It's not like her to give up so easily."

"Right, well good luck with that," Chifuyu gave another yawn and plopped down into her bed again, stuffing her face into the pillow with a relieved sigh, "Wake me up in a couple of hours, alright? I don't want to be late."

* * *

"Oh man, that speech was way too long~!"

Houki chuckled slightly as she heard Chifuyu complain. It was pretty rare to hear her act like that, "Well, it might actually be better than the usual," She opined, "I remember during my temporary schooling in Gekkoukan high that we had two speeches; the next one a week right after the first. The school principal apparently felt put off that the student council president did such a good job in her speech that he took notes and made an exact copy for it. The other student's got really mad at him."

"Really? That's rough," She could sympathize with her about boring speeches, "At least the one who made the speech this year was energetic enough. What was her name again?" She racked her brain to remember, "Tatachi? Sasanashi? "

"Tatenashi-senpai, I think," Houki corrected her, "Weren't you listening to the speech earlier? She introduced herself and told us about the events the student council have planned."

"I was kinda busy..." Yeah, busy being poked and prodded by just about everyone sitting next to her and being pestered for information about her brother. She couldn't go 5 seconds without someone in front of her, next to her, or behind her poking her cheeks (mind out of gutter please) and saying that they would be her best friend if she 'just' gave out her brother's physical details and home address.

Needless to say, they were lucky she didn't have access to anything sharp and pointy while in that auditorium.

"Well, she said that the first thing this year would be the inter-class tournament and the class rep tournament," Houki reminded, "It's some kind of event where the chosen people from each class fight in pairs against other groups. The class rep tournament is where the two class reps fight for their class. Whoever wins the event gets some extra points for all IS related classes and some extra meal tickets for the whole year."

"That last one doesn't sound strictly legal..." Chifuyu snarked back at her her friend, "And skip the class rep tournament please. I don't think it's going to involve me."

"It's not. Tatenashi-senpai said that it was a personal prize she added for this year." Houki once again reminded her, "She considered it boring if all the winners got were a few extra points that are easy enough to get with extra credit."

"Huh, did it work?" Chifuyu was honestly curious if the student body was gullible enough to let a bunch of meal tickets energize them for something. While she herself never fell for it, many in her old school - her old friends Rin and Dan included - always felt pumped whenever it was given out as a prize during the cultural festivals. It was probably the first and last time she'd seen the perverted redhead and the short-tempered brunette cooperate.

"Yes, as expected," Houki sighed, "Many of the student's now plan to win and study more now that there are extra incentives for being the best. It's not surprising, I guess. People always try harder when there are prizes that appeal to them."

"So its basically turned into a glorified lottery? Figures." An idea popped into her head, "Hey, why don't we pair up for the tournament?" She suggested suddenly, much to Houki's surprise, "I mean, neither of us care about the prize and I'd rather partner with someone I know rather than a complete stranger. So how about it?"

"Um, well..." Houki pursed her lips and started fidgeting with her hair; a telltale sign she was nervous, "Well...I don't have an IS or anything and I'm not that good in piloting as it is..."

"Then we have something in common," Chifuyu clapped her on the back with a small smile, "I'm not a representative pilot and I'm not that good in piloting. We're practically perfect for one another."

"Yes, like two birds of a feather," Houki replied back sarcastically, "In either case it's not not my decision: We're paired up based on random chance and our status as IS pilots and personal IS users don't really matter."

"Then what was the point of worrying?" Houki didn't reply at the question, "Well I just hope we'll be paired together. I don't know what I'd do if I have to pair with someone like that Alcott-"

Chifuyu stopped, feeling a vibration in her pocket. It was her phone, "Hold on," She rummaged in her pocket for a few seconds before pulling up the handheld device, "Looks like I got a message."

_'Chifuyu-senpai! How are you? Is IS academy as great as people say it is? I bet it is!_ _I'm going to go there next year, so I hope you take care of me! Oh, and nothing has hanged here much. Nii got into a local high school close to home and Yuuki-kun is still staying in your old school. I can't believe it's only been a couple of weeks since you stopped coming over. It feels like such a long time :('_

_"_Who's it from?" Houki asked, not so subtly looking over her phone and reading the message.

Chifuyu laughed inwardly at her antics, "A Junior of mine. Her, Dan, Rin and Yuuki were the closest thing I could call friends, mostly because they didn't bug me about Onii-chan every 5 minutes and they didn't flirt with me...well, Dan did, but it was mostly harmless."

_'Hey hey, so now that Rin-chan is gone, it's really lonely here! Nii does nothing but stay in his room and look at his echii magazine collection (could've sworn I burned them all:/) and Yuuki-kun still doesn't talk much and mostly reads (He keeps getting more and more quiet, I swear:p) . You wanna hang out when you're free? I'll invite Nii and Yuuki-kun if you say yes! Please say yes, it's been so boring without you here Senpai!"_

Spend time with her friends again? How could she refuse? Smiling briefly to herself, she messaged back her affirmative and started walking back to the classroom with much more spring in her step than before. A weekend hanging out with her friends was just what she needed to stave off her annoyance from being forced into this school by her older brother.

It wasn't like IS academy wasn't a good school; it was one of the best in the world. But really, she had no overt interest in being an IS pilot or IS researcher. The only reason she was here was because her older brother worried about her getting kidnapped again...3 years after there were no incidents. Honestly the excuse was extremely flimsy and Chifuyu wondered if her older brother honestly expected her to buy into it.

Heck, she would've preferred to go to Butei Academy or something. Yuuki and Rin told her that it was some kind of special school, but it at least couldn't have been as bad as a school with a curriculum that focused on glorified sports wear. Besides, she was sure the two of them were exaggerating.

"You seem happy," Houki deadpanned, "Did you get asked out by a boyfriend?"

A boyfriend? That was something she'd never thought about before. The only person she liked was...she had too much on her plate to worry about romance, and she didn't have that many male friends to begin with. Dan constantly flirted with her enough times that she could probably get into a relationship with him, but it didn't change the fact that she only saw him as a friend - and a rather perverted one at that. She couldn't imagine herself in a relationship with the redhead.

Yuuki was the only other male she knew, and she was pretty sure he was asexual as it is given his lack of interest in the opposite or same sex. Nevermind the fact that he was younger than her and her preference lied with people who were at least the same age if not older than her. If anything she would consider him the unofficial younger brother everyone in the group never had, despite acting older than most of the others in the group.

"Nope, Ran asked me to hang out with them when I get the chance-" An idea suddenly popped into her head, "Hey, why don't you come with me? I want to introduce you to them. If Rin were still here you two would probably make fast friends, but the other three aren't bad. What do you say? Come on, I could use a new friend to add to my group."

"But I don't know them..." She'd slipped back into her default half-frown half-thinking face, "And I don't like the way you say group. It sounds like lackeys."

"You're thinking too much," Chifuyu waved off her concern, "I didn't know them a couple of years ago, and look where I am now."

"Away from your friends and staying in a school you don't want to be in? Sounds great..." Houki nimbly dodged the light punch Chifuyu threw her way,"I was only stating my honest opinion."

"Hey, why don't you stab me in the back while you're at it?" Chifuyu asked jokingly, "Anyway, I'm being serious here; you should come with me. I'm sure that you'll find spending time with other people relaxing after all that Witness Protection nonsense. I'm surprised that they allowed you to attend that Kendo tournament with all the moving around you did."

"...They didn't," Houki looked away from her friend's surprised look, "I ran away when security was the lightest and sneaked into the tournament. Mom and Dad yelled at me afterward and the people from the program tried to even stop the newspaper from printing my name when they found out."

"Wow, that sounds rough. Then how did your name get printed on the newspaper?"

"I think Onee-san had something to do with that," Houki mumbled back, "I heard something about the newspaper printers being hacked and the only thing the hacker left behind was virus with an image of a pair of bunny ears and a carrot. I'm still not sure about it though."

"A carrot and bunny ears? That practically screams 'Made by Houki's older sister'," Houki's face soured at the blunt answer, "Hey, I'm not saying it's a bad thing or something like that; you have a trademark and everything. Besides, you got what you wanted didn't you?"

"I didn't care if people knew my name or not," She replied somewhat hotly, "I just wanted to find someone that could challenge me. I hated not being allowed to join the clubs or being forced to forfeit because we had to move again. The people in the clubs were almost always trainees or didn't take it seriously. At least in a tournament I knew they had to be at least decent to qualify."

Well...that sounded sort of hostile.

"Your obsession with the sport's kind of disturbing," Chifuyu deadpanned, "I can understand craving a good challenge, but isn't the point of the sport for both self-defense and...well, sport? You really shouldn't go out of your way to beat up people."

"I did not beat them up!" Houki replied, scandalous at the notion, "You make it sound like I assaulted them when they had no choice in fighting back!"

"Yeah, well when the newspaper says 'Unexpected contestant leaves no chance for opponents to retaliate', you tend to get that kind of idea," Despite her words, Chifuyu grinned good-naturedly at Houki's stammered explanations rapidly reddening face, "It's fine, don't worry about it. Now that I'm here it's not like you have to worry about winning ever again anyway. It's a thing of the past."

"...Just for that, you'll be getting me two bowls of ramen **when** I win."

The two best friends stared at one another, bright smiles adorning their faces and determination filling their hearts. They'd been separated for 6 years - 6 long years of being forced to make compromise after compromise just so they could talk to one another and not lose their bond - and it was time for them to catch up on some long overdue friendship building.

Life was great.

* * *

Life was NOT great.

Class started out well enough; her older brother being late again notwithstanding. They finally started learning the basics of the IS structure and a decent schedule was distributed all over the class. Quizzes on IS structures would come first, followed by some small tests on maneuvering and then practicals on both. Nothing the class couldn't handle.

And then her brother had to open his big fat mouth.

"Alright class, it's time to choose the class representative," Ichika announced enthusiastically.

The classes reactions were lackluster at best. Most of the students answered half-heartedly and others didn't even bother replying. To the side, Chifuyu could even make out a pink-haired classmate of hers sleeping quite noticeably and flopping her arms to some vivid dream. Oh well, it was better than the time she transferred over to Mahora academy for that exchange student program. That was something she'd rather not repeat again.

"What kind of reaction is that? Come on girls, let's be a little more energetic here!" Once again the class didn't bother expanding energy to even fake being interested in the process. What was the point? It wasn't like there was anybody overtly unique among them (They'd be excited if Ichika-sensei was a student too, but alas that wasn't the case here). The one who would take the role was obviously the one who held the personal IS in the class, and there was only one of them here with that.

_'This is a disaster,'_ Chifuyu internally sighed. Why would she expect any different? Not even her older brother's natural charisma and energy was enough to rouse a completely bored class, _'I almost feel sorry for him. Hopefully he won't do anything stupid'_

"So I guess that means nobody has any problem with Chifu-chan being the the class representative, right? Great!"

Hah, she felt sorry for whoever-

...

...

She was going to kill him once class was over.

"I mind!" Surprisingly enough, someone beat her to the punch. Chifuyu looked blankly as Cecilia slammed her hands on her table, "You are showing blatant favoritism and disregarding the proper conduct when it comes to choosing the candidate!"

"Eh, there's rules for things like this? I thought it was a first come first serve kind of thing." Off to the side, Maya looked to be deciding whether to giggle, sigh, or facepalm at his actions. Eventually she made do with using her hand to cover her mouth, which sounded like it was trying to do both of the actions at the same time.

"What the- Of course there's rules!" Chifuyu rolled her eyes at the loud voice. Wasn't she taking this a bit far? She didn't even say if she was going to accept it; and she really had no plans to do so, "Normally it's the student who's a representative candidate that gets the title of Class Representative."

"Well...just because it's how it normally goes doesn't mean that that's how it always goes, right?" Cecilia's jaw dropped at the blunt excuse, "Besides, it's not like it's set in stone that only the representative is allowed to take the role-

"But I think-"

Okay, this was going too far, "Excuse me, did anyone bother asking me if I wanted it or not?"

Both teacher and student stopped mid explanation and turned to the rather irate Chifuyu, "Onii-chan, when did I say I wanted the position?" Ichika shivered slightly as his usually adorable little sister fashioned him a rather cruel glare, "Please stop talking about me like I'm not even here. I can talk for myself, thanks."

"But Chifu-chan-" He stopped when she gave him another glare. _'...Maybe I shouldn't tell her that one you're nominated you really don't have the right to refuse,' _Ichika thought to himself. She would kill him after class...or worse, she wouldn't help him the next time Tabane came for him again.

He never did figure out why she kept choking him. He thought they were perfectly good friends, though maybe he was wrong on account of her trying to either cut of his oxygen or smother him with her - admittedly big...bad thoughts... - chest. Maybe he did something back when they were kids that he didn't apologize for. There was that one incident with the chocolate and her clothes having to be-

Bad thoughts...he really needed to get his mind out of the gutter. They were friends, he didn't want to ruin that.

Tabane was happy go lucky a lot of the time, but she was the older sister of a girl who's normal response to misdemeanor was a slap was a slap with a kendo stick. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as they say.

"And you," She pointed at Cecilia, "Please don't make assumptions about my capabilities and whether I'm even going to accept it or not. I'd rather not be judged by someone who's ego is bigger than her name."

"Wh-What did you just say!" Another roll of the eyes met her enraged comment, "In terms of ability, it's obvious that I should be the class representative. It'll be troubling if some rare far-east monkey is to be chosen because he is a rare breed! I came to this island country to polish up my IS skills, and I have no interest in joining a circus!"

...Far east monkey? Chifuyu couldn't tell if that was a racist comment or she was being insulted specifically. Either way it annoyed her greatly.

"Isn't that right!? Only the most talented can be the class representative, and I'm the most suitable one!" Cecilia's face got more and more red as she continued her tirade. It reminded her of that one detective anime she watched long ago, "In the first place, living in such a country with an underdeveloped level of culture is excruciatingly painful for me-"

"Are you an idiot?" The words slipped out before Chifuyu could stop them, "I have no problems with you insulting me, but why resort to racism? And here, of all places?" She made a wide gesture to the class, most of whom were now looking at the two of them, "Did you seriously insult Japan in a class that's at least half filled with Japanese students? That's like yelling 'I hate the French!' while standing on top of the Eiffel Tower."

Cecilia seemed to flinch at her words, "W-Well...that doesn't matter!" Of course it didn't..."What the issue here is that you are obviously unqualified for the position of Class Representative and you're only getting it out of nepotism!"

She had a point there...except she didn't even say she wanted the damn thing. And really, nepotism? She was throwing out the big words now.

"Well, obviously it's up to me to take the position," Cecilia continued haughtily, "After all, one who has the superior lineage should-"

"Pfft, says the girl whose country's been getting the "Worst Cuisine award" 5 years running."

The vibrant atmosphere in the room stilled. Cecilia's face went from shocked silence to incoherent babbling, her face turning more and more red from fury, "What...you...dare...country...bah...ghtsahsbt!" Chifuyu yawned overdramatically and didn't even bother replying to the garbled mess of words. She'd lost enough braincells trying to argue already.

"Is that a challenge!? If so, I accept your challenge now!"

"Challenge? What the hell are you on about?" Chifuyu gave a confused stare. A classmate of hers whispered in her ear quickly before Chifuyu replied, "Wait, when did I say I wanted to the position? A challenge is pointless when one side actively doesn't want to win."

"Hmph, so your courage only extends to words," Cecilia laughed in that annoying way that people in anime thought was refined, but was obviously grating to the ears, "As I expect from someone who relies on her older brother for everything."

The girl sitting next to Chifuyu flinched back as a twitch started overtaking her right eye. She was not happy, "Oh really? Well then, I think I am in the mood for a little fighting. It's a good thing you have such a big head, I'm going to enjoy every second of smacking it around"

Both girls stood up and glared at one another, wordlessly daring the other to make a move first. They were ready for a bloodbath.

"How do you think you'll even stand a chance? I am a representative pilot with months of experience and a personal IS to boot. Do you expect to fight me in one of those pathetic training mechs?"

"It doesn't matter if you have the best mech in the world. It's not like the weight of your huge ego will let you get even two feet off the ground."

"My what-"

Ichika chose this moment to cut in, "Um...girls? Summoning IS indoors isn't allowed, so no fighting here please. I'm talking to you, Miss. Alcott." Neither of them took notice of him, "Girls please, we can't break school rules because of personal desires."

_'So says the one who started this whole thing,'_ The two of them grumbled in their head. They may not have agreed on...anything at all, but neither of them could deny that the teacher/her older brother was being extremely biased in voting Chifuyu in the first place without getting everyone's input. Chifuyu had to remember to pay him back for that little incident later.

"U-Um, if I may," Maya finally decided to cut in, "The arena will be free next monday, so it should be no problem if you have your match there next week."

Once again both girls glared at one another before turning back to the green haired teacher, giving her reluctant nods. They would settle this next week, and nothing was going to stop them.

* * *

"Damn, what have I gotten myself into..." Chifuyu sighed in frustration, running her hands across her wet hair in frustration. She'd forgotten how long it was without her usual ponytail; she usually went to sleep without removing it, "I mean it's not like I'm scared of her, but usually I'm more calm when it comes to dealing with people like her.

The bathhouse was an excellent addition to the school, in Chifuyu's humble opinion. What was better than being able to clean yourself and feel like you visited a hot spring all at once? The nice designs and wide interior certainly helped in easing tension.

Chifuyu took a deep breath and visibly sagged in relief. The entire place had a natural smell to it that was naturally pleasing to the senses. Really, it was like they had their own personal hotsprings that they could go to free of charge.

But honestly, the best part of it all was that she was sure no guys would peep on her. While she loved spending time with her friends, Dan had this uncanny habit of 'accidentally' going onto the girls side of the springs at the most inopportune times. She thought he'd learn to stop doing it after 5 consecutive times of getting smacked with buckets, but he never did.

"There's nothing you can do about it now. Best thing to do is get as much training as possible and beat her on the first try." Houki answered, lathering some shampoo in her hands. With a cautious sniff, she brought the pink liquid away from her nose and towards her long head of hair, "And make sure not to panic. The worst enemy in a fight is often yourself."

"Yeah, thanks Master Houki," Chifuyu replied back sarcastically.

Right now there were only a few people in the bath. Far as she could tell, it was just her, Houki, some blue haired and red-eyed girl with glasses reading a book, and that same sleepy classmate from before bobbing up and down over the water since she was still asleep. Everybody else had gone in early in the hopes of catching her older brother off-guard. She didn't worry about it too much; he was as clueless as that guy her friend Misaka liked.

"It wasn't like you weren't asking for it. You really shouldn't have made that joke about British cuisine." Houki reasoned.

"...She started it,"Okay, that was really childish. Even the blunette across the bath gave her an awkward glance, "What was I supposed to do? Let her insult me and Japan at the same time? You should know I'm not the kind of person to smile and bow at people like that."

"I'm not saying you should do that. I'm simply saying that you need to control your temper at times, especially when you're facing someone who can summon a sniper rifle on command. You're strong, but you're not invincible."

"I'm not scared of her," There was no hint of bragging or bravado in her tone; it was the honest truth, "Besides, I've learned enough from reading the books and Onii-chan's teaching that I'm sure I can take her. Training isn't everything."

"It's not your skills with an IS that worries me, but your lack of one," Chifuyu raised an eyebrow in question, "Regardless of your skill, your opponent has a personal IS. You need something to even the odds a bit or you'll be fighting at a major disadvantage for the entire match."

She had a good point there. How would she be able to match her in terms of weapons and gear? She needed an advantage.

"...Why don't you...ask the engineering branch..."

Chifuyu was roused from her thoughts by the sound of the airy voice. Blinking water out of her eyes, she looked towards the source of the voice and found only the red-eyed girl from earlier, still reading from her holographic book.

"What's the engineering branch?"

"...You don't...know?" Chifuyu shook her head in refusal, "The engineering branch...help students...who want to improve their IS..." She turned to another page of the book, "If you don't...have a personal IS...you can ask them to...temporarily upgrade an...Uchigane."

"But I thought an Uchigane can't be customized," Houki interjected.

"They can't...at least not permanently," She sighed, "...The power level...is temporarily raised...for one match...and you can attach two equalizers. ...It will stop working after one match...so the Uchigane can't be used...permanently fitted for one user..."

Really? Well, that sounded like exactly what she needed right now.

"Thanks for the heads up," Chifuyu threw her a friendly smile, "My name's Chifuyu by the way, what's yours?" She didn't even comment on the weird pausing the girl did whenever she talked. It would have been rude considering the advice she'd given.

The girl looked up from her book and, just for a moment, Chifuyu swore she saw the barest hints of a smile, "...Kanzashi Sarashiki...nice to meet you,"

* * *

**Omake: Chifuyu Orimura meets Huang Lingyin.**

Chifuyu prided herself in being a bit of a loner. While she had no problems with talking to people, she'd long since grown tired of them all doing it simply to get information on her brother and/or Tabane. So it came as little surprise she often found herself distancing herself from other people and their problems. It may have sounded cold, but the 13 year old was already annoyed.

This was not one of those days.

It all started when that Chinese student transferred in. Due to some differences in language, she'd accidentally introduced herself as Ling (bamboo) and, because her classmates were a bunch of idiots who wouldn't let it go, mercilessly teased her day in and day out. She didn't think she'd actually ever heard of her classmates calling her by her real name. It was always "Bamboo-chan" or any variation thereof.

And apparently one of her classmates had gotten fed up about it.

"Hey, leave her alone!" An unfamiliar red-head stepped between the crying Ling and the leader of the group; a brute (especially for his measly 14 years, though she doubted that considering his repeating of grades) by the name of Satoshi, "She's not doing anything to you! So just-"

The red-headed boy was quite literally thrown across the field before she could finish his sentence, landing in the ground with a dull thud. Chifuyu's eyes crinkled in annoyance as most of the other kids around the break area ignored them. To them it was pitiable, but not worth putting themselves in harms way over.

Even with the IS tilting the standards between men and women, kids were still kids. Grade-schooler's and middle-schooler's hardly cared at the large picture or why some people yelled at others. So boys bullying girls were still a common sight for just about every school.

"What's that Gotanda?" The red-head grunted in response, but nothing else, "Hah, stop trying to act like a hero!" Satoshi punctuated the last word with a kick to the boy's stomach. Chifuyu felt her blood boil at the sight. None of the other students helped him and some actually pointed and laughed at his expense.

Well, except one.

"H-Hey, leave him alone," The owner of the voice was a frail boy barely past 12. His skin was pale and looked unhealthy, and he shivered quite noticeably against the larger males, but he continued to stand regardless, "Kicking someone is against school rules!"

Satoshi's lacky, a lean boy by the name of Jin, snorted loudly and grabbed the younger male by his white hair, "Aww, is wittle Yuuki getting scawed?" He sneered at the younger boy and forced the glasses from his face, "Can you even see me without these things? I bet you can't! Probably spent too much time reading these fantasy books of yours."

"Give...give it back," 'Yuuki' tried in vain to reach up against the taller boy's grasp, "I need those!"

Chifuyu gave the crowd a once over before sighing. No one was going to do anything to help them and they were going to get massacred if things continued this way. Much as she hated to involve herself, she needed to do something."

"Haa, what do you want Orimura?" Satoshi smirked at her approaching form, "You want to watch up close and personal?"

"No, not really," She did her best to keep her voice and expression neutral; an exceedingly hard task given Dan's pained coughing, Yuuki's begging, and Ling's crying, "I'm here to tell you to stop what you're doing or else."

"Or else what?" Jin called out, still holding Yuuki in the uncomfortable grapple, "Are you gonna tell your older brother on us? Ooooh, we're so scared~!" He cried, guffawing loudly at Yuuki's futile resistance.

A twitch had firmly placed itself on Chifuyu's right eye. No, she needed to keep calm, keep calm. She didn't want another incident with her older brother coming to school to talk to the teachers. After that last fight she promised to behave herself.

"Hey, don't say that," Satoshi grinned, "I bet she'll start crying for her parents again like last time. 'Waaah, mommy, daddy. Why did you leave? I'll be a good girl now!'" He gave a twisted chuckle, "It must stink not having parents, huh?"

...Screw behaving.

Satoshi barely had time to react before Chifuyu's fist smacked him in the face, throwing him onto the ground with a noticeable thud. Not letting it get to him, the larger boy immediately stood up and raised a fist, preparing to smack her back thrice as hard. Chifuyu braced herself for impact; she was good with a kendo stick, not so much unarmed against a larger oppnent.

Or he would've, if not for Dan tacking him to the ground at the last second.

"Hey, it's not nice hitting girls!" Dan grabbed Satoshi's hair with his left and curled his right hand into a fist, "Pick on someone your own size" Punctuating that statement, the smaller red-head brought his hand down against his surprised face.

"Sato- Ahhh!" Jin screamed loudly as Yuuki bit into his hand, "Hey, let go you little freak!" Satoshi balled his free hand into a fist, smashing into Yuuki's exposed scalp. He didn't let go, "I said let go- Ahhh!"

Another scream, this time because of Rin. She had enough of simply crying and quite literally tossed herself against Jin's back, biting and scratching at anything within reach. It was both comical and extremely weird to watch, "This is for calling me bamboo!"

Chifuyu watched blankly at the proceedings. Dan was on the ground, losing a bad wrestling match against Satoshi. Yuuki and Ling were trying their best to overthrow the lean Jin; something they seemed to at least have a little success in judging by his pained screams. It honestly looked a bit too surreal for words. How in the word did she get involved her again?

Oh well...

"Hey Gotanda, you're not the only one who wants to punch his face in. Leave some for me!"

* * *

"I don't know how we got out of there alive."

Chifuyu panted in exhaustion. The teacher had come into the fight after a while and the 4 of them were forced to leave unless they wanted to get suspended. Right now they were on the side of the school's abandoned building. Perfect for escaping teachers.

They, quite bluntly, looked like crap. Dan's lip was bleeding and he had a bit of a hard time breathing, courtesy of that kick to the stomach. Yuuki was probably the worst off since his scalp had traces of blood on it and a bruise had formed over his right eye. Chifuyu and Rin by contrast had gotten off lucky; the former with single bruise on her cheek and the latter only having messy hair and bloodshot eyes from crying.

"This is what I get for involving myself in other people's business," Chifuyu lamented aloud, "Haaa~, Onii-chan is going to get so mad when he sees this bruise." She placed a finger to her cheek and flinched. It didn't hurt, but it was quite noticeable.

"Hey, he'll understand if you tell him you wanted to stop a bullying," Dan commented with a strained smile, "Besides, you got off lucky. Its me and Yuuki that have to explain why we're bleeding," He gestured to the youngest one in the small group.

"Mmh, my uncle's going to kill me," Yuuki said in between pants, "My cousin's going to get mad at me too. Will the blood come off if I wipe it away? I don't want them to worry about anything."

"I doubt it," Ling answered, trying to straighten her hair and wipe away the marks left by her tears, "I tried wiping away a cut when I was younger and it ended up just smearing on my skin. Better if you don't touch-"

Being the obedient guy that he was, Yuuki immediately reached up to his hair and tried to wipe off the blood, "Ahh!" Only to regret it immediately afterwards as an uncomfortable squish met his efforts.

"H-Hey, didn't I tell you not to wipe it off?" Ling screamed, flailing her arms as the crimson red substance made its way into his white skin, "Oh, that looks nasty~!" She whined.

"Be careful where you touch!" Dan, stepped back as Yuuki haphazardly tried to shake the blood from his skin, nearly bumping into Chifuyu in the process, "You see, this is why you should listen to your Senpai. Don't go and do stupid things like touching bloody injuries!"

"S-Sorry..."

Chifuyu watched the three of them. Why did they act so friendly? They didn't know one another prior to this and they certainly weren't friends. How could they so easily make friends with one another with nothing to go on but some similar injuries?

"Hey, Orimura-san, can you please explain why- Hey, stop touching your head!"

Dan sighed melodramatically and held down Yuuki's arms, much to his protest, "H-Hey, let go of me! I'll bite you if you don't!" Yuuki threatened, though his frail appearance and missing glasses certainly diminished the effect greatly.

"Yeah, well good luck doing that with nothing to bite into, shorty."

Ling was being more helpful and tried to use her handkerchief to wipe away the excess blood on both Yuuki's and Dan's faces, though she was eventually forced to give up after nearly getting smacked by the two arguing boys. All in all the entire scene looked very comical and awkward.

"Hahahahaha~"

Chifuyu laughed. Watching them act like idiots, trying to ignore that they just went through a rather gruesome fight, it ticked something in her. All three of them gave her weird looks before laughing alongside her. The absurdity of everything that happened the past half hour or so was finally catching up to them and they found themselves unable to stop.

"Well I'm glad we're all happy now, so why don't we introduce ourselves?" At everyone's nod, Dan went first, "My name's Dan Gotanda, but you guys can call me Dan. I wish I can say nice to meet you, but what happened just now was anything but nice."

"Hmph, guess you're right," Chifuyu agreed, "The name's Chifuyu Orimura; you can call me whatever you want. Mostly I just feel like an idiot for getting involved right now."

The youngest among them went next, "Yuuki Homura," He gave a small smile, "Please call me Yuuki. My family situation is complicated right now, so please don't call me by last name. It might not be the same soon."

And finally the transfer student, "Um...just call me Rin," Chifuyu raised an eyebrow at the short introduction but she let it go. Obviously she wasn't going to go back to being called by that derogatory nickname, "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, why did you three help me?"

The three 'rescuers' looked at one another briefly before stating their intention,

"I don't like seeing girls cry."

"It was noisy and I got annoyed."

"They weren't following the school rules."

Once again another bout of laughter hit the ragtag group. None of them even knew why they were laughing so hard in the first place: It just felt...natural to them. Maybe they were just glad to get away without losing anything vital or maybe they were just going crazy. In either case, they all felt happy.

"Come on, we should go to the clinic before the teacher's get worried."

All of them nodded at Chifuyu's suggestion and made their way back to the school. In front of her she could see Rin and Dan arguing about whether she needed help or not and behind her Yuuki was doing his best to read his book, ignoring the uncomfortable stickiness of the blood on his hands.

"So I'm like your Knight in Shining armor, right? Do I get a kiss?"

"Hah, in your dreams Gotanda! I could've take then myself if you hadn't stepped in."

"Hmm, the blood is sticking to the pages. Kan-chan's going to kill me when she asks for her manga back."

Chifuyu smiled. So much for being a loner. Oh well, maybe having friends she could talk to like she did with Houki would be a good thing.

* * *

**Finished! Not much else to say except the usual R and R. Hopefully Future Imperfect won't take as long.**


End file.
